Thaindian News

London, April 4 (IANS) Jade Goody, Britain’s biggest reality TV star, was Saturday buried near her village home in southeast England Saturday in one last public moment after a celebrity life lived out in front of television cameras.
Thousands of people lined the streets and many others watched the funeral on giant television screens erected outside St John’s Church in Buckhurst Hill, close to Goody’s home in Upshire.

She was buried in the nearby Epping forest along with photographs of her two young sons. There were 350 people inside the church and 2,000 outside.

Fittingly, one of the wreaths on the funeral cortege was in the shape of a large camera.

The service included readings by her husband Jack Tweed - they were married Feb 22 - and music by a London choir.

Jade’s plain white coffin was carried in a vintage Rolls Royce car - part of a 10-car funeral cortege that began in Bermondsey in southeast London, where Jade grew up in an ordinary housing estate and worked as a dental nurse before becoming a TV star.

Jade was buried in her wedding dress and wearing her wedding ring in a funeral whose details - including the selection of music - were planned by her.

Jade, who shot to fame as the unlikely foul-mouthed star in the British reality TV show “Big Brother” - and later its celebrity version - died of cervical cancer March 22 at the age of 27.

Participants in the show lived in a Big Brother House and viewers voted to expel one every week, making the last remaining ‘housemate’ the winner.

In January 2007, after a row with Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on “Celebrity Big Brother”, Goody was expelled by the show’s producers who received thousands of complaints alleging racist bullying by Goody - and Shilpa emerged the winner.

Goody denied the allegations, made up with Shilpa, bounced back in public life and was Friday praised for her role in raising awareness about the need for women to test for cervical cancer, which is free of charge in Britain.

“Because of Jade so many women all over Britain will stay alive,” said friend and publicist Max Clifford.

“In the years to come, many other lives will have been saved purely because of Jade. She’ll have a big smile on her face when she sees what’s gong on today,” he added.

Vicar Stewart Hartley said, “Several girls have said to me: ‘I’ve gone and had some tests done’ because Jade said they should.”